PeopleSoft's Poison Pill Puts the Lawyers in Charge

Larry Ellison's increasingly rich blandishments to PeopleSoft's(PSFT Quote) shareholders and customers may be a waste of time. PeopleSoft has built a formidable set of antitakeover defenses that make it all but impossible for stockholders to overrule management and sell the company without a major win in court.

"They're nearly bulletproof," said Patrick McGurn, senior vice president of Institutional Shareholder Services.

According to people close to the deal, PeopleSoft has erected a multilayered defense to keep would-be takeover artists at bay -- and its much-talked-about poison pill is only the beginning. Here are the major obstacles Oracle(ORCL Quote) will need to breach: ...